Oculus Rift raises a tonne of cash to get it under Christmas trees in 2014

We're almost, almost there

Any fears that Oculus Rift might not make its Q3 2014 consumer release can probably be put to rest.

Thanks to a nice pre-Christmas cash burst, Oculus has just raised a cool $75 million in Series B funding to help make the next step of its VR journey.

A big wallop of that comes from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, while its co-founder Marc Andreessen (also the name behind the first major web browser, Mosaic) is joining the Oculus board of directors.

"We believe Oculus will not only alter that gaming landscape but will redefine fundamental human experiences in areas such as film, education, architecture, and design," said Marc Andreessen in a statement.

The goal is in sight

Oculus raised $16 million back in June in its Series A round of funding, and the latest money influx should help it to move from prototype and into consumers' hands. According to the legendary John Carmack, CTO of Oculus VR, it might be just in time.

"The games industry is well past the point where more pixels, texels, flops, and frames displayed on the same fixed screens are really changing the experiences that players get", he said.

"What will revolutionise gaming, and interactive content in general, is putting people inside the digital world."